"Realistic" transfer to Mediterranean
 

In future I plan to transfer to La Spezia, but i want to do it right - by passing through the Gibraltar and sailing into La Spezia.

I know that I can't transfer while in port that is not my homebase, but I was thinking of exiting the patrol just outside of La Spezia, to get "teleported" to my home base, and than do the transfer. Hopefully I will be again "teleported" to La Spezia :D, and start my new patrol from there.

Will this work? I can't test this myself, because I'm still in mid 1941 and the flotilla is not available yet.

Check when La Spezia becomes active (23rd/29th Flotilla May 42) and teleport to your home base on May 1st then transfer or ensre your at sea during May and you should get the new base message.

Thanks!

Finaly, the time has come to leave the Atlantic and go for the Med. My initial plan was to head for La Spezia, but I'll go to Salamis now, in Dec '41. One reason is to use the advantage of the longer winter nights to for more safely passage through the Strait of Gibraltar, and another is I'm getting a bit sick of Atlantic. :DL

-------------------------
Patrol log
U-371 (Type VIIC), under command of Kapitanleutnant Johann Schwarz
1st Flotilla, Brest

Jan 27 1942
15:52 It's sunny tuesday afternoon, and I'm finaly leaving my home port Brest. The sea is calm, with 4 m/s northern wind.
I received my orders to patrol CG79 sector, and after that I'm heading for Salamis.

Jan 28
03:57
BF5544. Aircraft spotted. It's far away and I'm not sure if it is one of ours, or British. He didn't bother us, and we continue on course.

(to be continued...)

Screenshots please! :yep:

:salute:

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6135/54389519.jpg
Leaving the Brest harbor. For the last time, I hope. (at least in this career :DL)

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/5899/59898350.jpg
aerial view

Jan 31
05:00 CG42. So far, the patrol has been quite uneventful. Unfortunately the weather has changed. It's raining and the wind got stronger (7 m/s SW).
At my current speed of 9-10kt I'll reach my patrol area tomorrow morning. I'm about to enter into the area under the Allied air cover, but hopefully the weather will ground their planes.

16:55
CG48. Received a report of a large convoy, going NNE at 6kt. It's some 60 km from my current position, and I'll intercept it, despite bad weather. Maybe it will clear soon.

19:18
Established sound contact with the convoy. Weather unchanged. Shadowing.

(to be continued...)

Feb 1
04:48. Warship spoted! One of the escorts came out of the rain and fog, 200m behind us. They didn't spot us (don't they have a radar??), and I tried to evade on surface, but the escort was geting closer. We had to dive.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/2460/49326589.jpg

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/7518/65145997.jpg
:o those few minutes I was literary shaking.

04:57 Current depth 200m. The escort is above us, droping depht charges. So far, none hit...

(to be continued... I hope)

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1473/brassballs.jpg


Paraphrasing Alec Baldwin in Glenngarry Glen Ross: "It takes brass balls to [sail through Gibraltar]." :DL

:D
Well, I'm still far from Gibraltar.

-------------------------
07:00 We're clear. The escorts are gone. Surfacing and continuing to follow the convoy. Course 350 @6kt. Weather still lousy.

Feb 2
15:25 I'm still shadowing he convoy, heading NNW @6kt. Visibility is still zero. The convoy is about 15-20km to starboard. I'm doing regular hourly sound checks in case it changes course.
The crew, and me, are already sick and tired of the weather. Hope it clears soon. If it doesn't within a day or two, I'll abandon the convoy.

19:10 Lost contact with convoy. Searching.

20:35 Reestablished contact. Course NE.

Feb 3
08:08 The weather got even worst! Visibility zero, south wind, 11m/s.

(to be continued...)

Dear sweet jeebus Meduza,that DD was close!!!!!:o:doh::timeout:Hope the weather clears up soon,best of luck:salute:

Thanks, mate! :salute:
That was realy some scary encounter. They were probably less then 100m away when I dived. I was expecting to see gunfire eny moment. I wonder did they see me at all? Or maybe they just had a radar signal, but not visual? I was thinking to make a hard turn to move away from their path, but was affraid that they'll spot me if I turn my broadside.

Anyway...


Feb 5
12:26 The weather has not cleared yet. :hmmm:
I will certainly have to abandon the convoy within two days, because in that time, with the current speed and course, we'll reach England.:rotfl:
Current position BE6683.

21:56
We were surprised by an escort again! This time without any warning. Suddenly there were sunds of gunfire, water sprays all around and flashes of light coming from behind. As we dived, several shells hit our stern, and some depthcharges exploded nearby, heavily shaking the boat.
Massive floodings in all aft compartments. The boat quickly sank to 110m, but the crew managed to pump the water out. Not knowing the condition of the hull, i did not dare to take the boat any deeper.

22:41
There are three or four escorts above, throwing large amounts of depthcharges. Hedgehogs, I suspect. So far we are doing OK. And the sounds of explosions are getting more and more distant.

23:08
The escorts gave up and returned to the convoy.
Now I have to decide what to do next. I'm affraid that the hull is badly damaged and that it may not survive another eventual attack.

(to be continued...)

Feb 6
08:30 After surfacing and making detailed inspection of the boat, I decided it's impossible to continue the mission.
We will sail to El Ferrol, Spain, to meet with Max Albrecht to resupply and repair the damage. Hopefully we will be able to resume the original mission as planed.

The visibility is still poor, heavy rain with 11 m/s south wind.
Current possition BF44.

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/6483/56300010.jpg
Damage caused by destroyer's gun fire.

Feb 7
11:02 We entered El Ferrol harbor. I had to wait most of the night in front of it due to lack of any navigational lights in the narrow channel before it. Must send my objections to the Spanish government. :D
We met with the supply ship and will hopefully continue our voyage tomorrow, after painting the boat :D.
Of course, it is still raining.

(to be continued...)

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/4122/21466955.jpg

Make sure to drill your Flak crew extra hard before entering the Med:yep:

I have lost all my boats in there to planes:wah:

Thanks for the advice, I'll watch out. :up: Sorry to hear about your loss.
To be honest, when it comes to the planes, I relly more on my watchmen then on my flaks. :D




March 29 1942
20:11 The repairs took a lot more time than expected, but we're finaly ready to go. In the meantime, my highly experienced WO, Oberleutnant Kurt Gottscheu, had to leave and was replaced by oberfahnrich Josef Brandt, a man without any combat experience.

20:23 The weather is fine, the sea is calm. We are finaly sailing out of the El Farrel harbor, which has been our home for the past month.

March 30
04:18 BF78. Ship spotted. It's a liner, lit up, and I'll asume it's Spanish. Continuing on our course.

18:24 CG24. We're entering the area under Allied air cover. Hopefully they won't bother us until morning.

March 31
04:25 Aircraft spoted! I didn't even saw it, but I could hear it. We crash dived and we were not attacked.
05:42 Back to surface. Probably not for long. The sun just came up.
05:45 Another aircraft! They were far away and didn't spot us. Staying on surface, increasing the speed to 14kt.
11:11 Aircraft spotted, heading in our direction. We crash dived. At 50m we sustained a hit. Probably only minor damage. I decided to stay submerged until sundown, going ahead slow to preserve the batteries.
18:23 We surfaced. The weather s unchanged, visibilty 10km, north wind 4m/s. Current position CG55. We have at least three days to Gibraltar.
18:48 Another aircraft. We crash dived, but still received a minor damage.
19:31 Surfaced.
20:41 Received a convoy report. It's to far north, going away, and we'll not going after it.


April 1
05:50 The wind got stronger - 15 m/s S. Visibility is still 10km. It's dawning and I can expect air attacks soon. I guess this area became a lot more dangerous since my last visit, at the end of 1941.
Current position CG58.
20:45 Haven't seen a single aircraft the whole day. Maybe RAF had a day off :DL. Haven't seen anything actually. We dived for a regular sound check. Nothing. At the moment our greatest enemy is boredom.

April 2
07:42 Aircraft spotted. Crash dived. Light damage from bombs.
14:24 Contact! Faint sound, bearing 332. Surfacing to intercept. Position CG9574.
14:57 It's a Spanish liner... Returning to previous course. Diving.

21:35 Surfacing. I'm about 50 km from the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. I'm going to stay in the area untill tomorrow night. There should be a lot of merchants there. Then I'll try to break through the Strait, full speed on surface. I should be through in few hours.

April 3
03:00 Contact bearing 352. It sounds like destroyer, patroling the entrance. We''ll stay submerged.
03:25 I calculated that the destroyer will pass only a few km from us, and I was getting ready to sink it. Then it changed course and I let it go. I don't usualy waste eels on destroyers, but kind of regret this one. It would have been one less patrol to worry about.

04:29 Contact bearing 200! It's a merchant. Surfacing to intercept.
05:00 I can't belive it! Another neutral ship. That's 5 days without seeing a valid target.

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/447...board01xix.jpg


06:27 Aircraft spotted, crash dive.



(to be continued...)

11:21 We're entering the Strait. Current position 15km NW from Tanger. I can see the coast through the scope. It looks like the winds have calmed. Still no contacts. I'll proceed submerged until dark, and then surface for the break through the narrow part of the Strait.

14:13 Contact. warship moving fast. Bearing 002. Closing. Long range.
15:27 I have a contact with two warships guarding the Strait. Adjusting my course further south to evade.
16:05 Four warships on our way. One is getting dangerously close. Going deeper.
16:58 Slowing down to minimal speed that can maintain depth. CO2 level is raising. Waiting the night to surface. Still four hours.
19:49 Periscope depth. It looks dark enough to surface. There is one patrol far away, bearing 300, and another one closer, bearing 200. I'll take my chance. Current position 16 km NE of Tanger, 5 km from coast. I'll try to stay close to it.

19:57 On surface. Visibility 10km, wind 6 m/s. Visual contact with destroyer, bearing 191 distance 8km.
20:23 No visual contacts. Course 90, speed 15kt. 40km from Mediterranean.



(to be continued...)

Im gonna give you about a 40%chance of getting through. even I have tryed, but the number of distroyers always make me decide to turn back.

21:26 We're almost there! I can clearly see the lights from Ceuta harbor. Except for ships docked inside, there are no visual contacts.

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/1...9193426784.jpg


21:57 We made it! The Strait of Gibraltar is behind us. :salute: It was almost too easy.

:woot:


22:06 Dived for a sound check. Four warships bearing 270. Hope they don't know we're there. Surfacing to open range.
22:27 Visual contact. Destroyer bearing 259. Long range. Turning away and increasing speed to get away.
23:23 Dived for a regular sound check. The only contact is a destroyer straight ahead. Probably the last patrol guarding the Strait. position CG9673.

April 4
00:11 I sank that destroyer. :oops: I don't know why, I guess I got a little bloodthirsty, because I didn't sink anything for too long. And she offered a perfect opportunity. Single T1, magnetic detonator, fired from 5 km. My first kill in the Med. Waste of torpedo, I know...
Now it's about time to do some serious hunting!


(to be continued...maybe)

Excellent report, I enjoyed a lot following it these last days :up:

Noooo change your attitude, you are now in the Mediterranean :D

The mare nostrum is essentially a warship campaign, with the challenge of few, well escorted, fast units and ocasionally a merchant with enough draft to be torpedoed (And a heavy enemy air cover). A destroyer is a legitimate target here, think that your main role is to clear the seas to help the italian convoys reach north Africa to resupply Rommel's Afrika Korps. Those pesky destroyers are the ones who ride the axis convoys, so you are doing well wiping them out!

Here's a very recommended reading to put you in the mood:

http://www.amazon.com/U-Boats-Medite.../dp/1591148936

Excellent Meduza:yeah:knew you could do it:03:Really enjoyed reading your adventure,:up: So much that when the time comes and the Med bases are active I'm going for it!:yep: First time ever:salute: Whats the earliest that they are active by the way:06: